Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 21:07:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Chuck Robey <chuckr@mat.net> To: Jacques Vidrine <n@nectar.com> Cc: FreeBSD Ports Team <ports@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: /sys/boot, egcs vs. gcc, -Os Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9904082053400.378-100000@picnic.mat.net> In-Reply-To: <199904090037.TAA35590@spawn.nectar.com>
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On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Jacques Vidrine wrote: > On 8 April 1999 at 19:25, Chuck Robey <chuckr@mat.net> wrote: > [snip] > > And on top of that, there are about 5 top tracks of libs, each of these > > 5 tracks (that have lots depending on them) has lived in both /usr/local > > and in /usr/X11R6 in recent times, both leave ascii configuration files > > behind (and in both sets of directories, depending on the age of the > > older ports). > > Yes, I do find that very annoying. I'd like to see everything > (including X) use one prefix. You misunderstand. It's not having two different install hierarchies that makes it difficult, it's having ports that start in one hierarchy, THEN CHANGE THEIR MIND. This means you can't even locate the various crud config files that these ports drop behind them. Today, we'll install in /usr/X11R6. Tomorrow, let's be PC, and install in /usr/local. Next week, we'll be even more PC-ish, and use /opt. Are you getting the idea? If you think I'm wrong, you have to look at the archives, the ports really did do this. The next time that I install a > system from scratch, I'll have everything under /opt (I use > /usr/X11R6 and /opt right now) to see how it goes. Why? John already told you, when you start from scratch, you get a perfect install. That's why Satoshi, with his squeaky-clean chroot environments, never sees these problems. Real users, however, go thru tins of aspirin trying to understand why gimp won't upgrade. I can't recall > why we have /usr/X11R6, other than because of assumptions in lotsa > X packages. > > > Just to make everything totally confused, because some > > insane folks want to have multiple versions active concurrently, the > > name of those config files, which exist in multiple places, have > > multiple names. > > Insane? ``Though this be madness, yet there is a method in 't.'' > If we were to remove all gtk ports but the latest (gtk12), as an > example, then we would have to remove also approximately 34 ports > that depend upon the older versions of GTK. So remove ports. What's so wrong with that? Users don't lose functionality. > > Each of the ports of the apps, which need all these > > libs, have configuration scripts that go looking for all these misnamed > > and misfiled config scripts, and those configuration scripts alway seem > > to find the oldest and most out-of-date config script possible. > > AFAIK, all of the ports that depend upon gtk (again for example), > correctly search for the version-dependant configuration script name > (i.e. gtk10-config, gtk12-config ...). The ports configuration scripts also find all the old config files too, even if they're installed in the old hierarchy. Believe it. If there are those that > do not, please send-pr them. That's a good point. I ought to be better about that, and I have to be honest and take some of the blame for this, I'm part of the problem. If you have a better suggestion for > handling this necessary complexity, I'd like to hear it. > > Upgrading the ports is hard enough without tilting at windmills. This belongs in ports, not current, which is where I moved it. I have a suggestion, the same it's always been, which is that we support only one version at a time, ONLY. If you want the old version, go get an old cdrom. The new versions use the single config files names, as example, gtk-config, not gtk12-config. Old files get overwritten, not moved aside. You want 2 versions active at once, then you're a developer, not a ports user, and you know how to do that yourself, and you should do that yourself, not make everyone else pay your freight. I don't want to continue this. You think I'm wrong, that's fine with me, there's probably truth to both our positions. ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- Chuck Robey | Interests include any kind of voice or data chuckr@picnic.mat.net | communications topic, C programming, and Unix. 213 Lakeside Drive Apt T-1 | Greenbelt, MD 20770 | I run picnic (FreeBSD-current) (301) 220-2114 | and jaunt (Solaris7). ----------------------------+----------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message
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